The six hundred million pound plan

• Rivers in Warwickshire to get £41 million boost

• Environmental improvement plans up to 2005 unveiled by water giant

• Future water bills to remain among the lowest in the world

Rivers and streams in Warwickshire are set for a £41 million boost from Severn Trent Water over the next six years under plans approved by the government last week.

Plans for the county include improvements at sewage works serving Hartshill, Wooton Wawen and Rowington as part of a near £600 million programme to build on improvements in Midlands river quality brought about by Severn Trent since 1989.

"We’re already the key factor in protecting the water environment in the Midlands from pollution through our work cleaning the community’s waste water to the highest standards in the world. This new programme will build on that record," said Severn Trent’s managing director Brian Duckworth.

"Severn Trent Water has spent a staggering £1.75 billion on improving sewage works and our network of sewers since 1990 – that’s £550 for every home whose waste we clean. And that has delivered an improvement of 27 per cent in river quality," explained Brian.

Now a programme for the first five years of the next millennium has been outlined. In Warwickshire key schemes are set for sewage works at Hartshill, Wooton Wawen, Itchen Bank, Coventry and Rowington. Hundreds of unsatisfactory sewer overflows will also be improved across the Midlands.

"Of course, this massive programme of work – and the other work we have to do to maintain and improve the record levels of drinking water quality, and simply to keep our equipment up to date -–all needs funding.

"Water bills for our customers in the Midlands are amongst the lowest in the UK, which in turn are some of the lowest in the world. We’d like to see them stay that way – and still deliver all these improvements," said Mr Duckworth